WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL (1/20/13): The public schools in Prince George’s County are in trouble. Despite gains in test scores, student performance continues to lag that of other local, suburban school systems. About 1,000 students per year, on average, have been leaving, some because of shifting demographics, others because of the schools’ poor reputation. That has shrunk the system by more than 5 percent since 2006 (to about 125,000 students), even as the county’s population has grown. Meanwhile, the numbers of students from low-income and immigrant households are climbing.

Since he took office two years ago, County Executive Rushern L. Baker III has made the schools a top priority, in line with the wishes of many county residents. He’s increased the school budget even as student enrollment has declined and formed an education commission to generate ideas for innovation. Those are sensible steps.

Yet Mr. Baker has no direct authority and little leverage over the schools. Two highly regarded school superintendents have left in the past four years and now hold the top jobs in the Los Angeles and Philadelphia school systems. Clearly something is wrong.

We’re not sure we understand that. In the first paragraph, the editors say the district’s test scores are rising, even as enrollment grows among low-income and immigrant students.

But so what? By the third paragraph, the editors are saying this: “Clearly something is wrong.”

We’ll assume that many things are “wrong,” or imperfect, in this county’s schools. It may be that the Prince George's schools are being run quite poorly.

But in reading this editorial, we find no sign—none at all—that the editors have ever set foot inside these schools. We find no sign that they actually know how well these schools are performing.

Given the way the real world works, are we really supposed to be shocked when superintendents leave Prince George’s to head the Los Angeles and Philadelphia systems? In the real world, such moves count as promotions. Don’t these moves reinforce the point the editors make—Prince George’s has had a pair of highly regarded superintendents?

But on that basis, the editors say that “clearly,” something is wrong. The editors also base their assessment on the fact that enrollment has declined, by an unstated amount.

As the Post continues, it bases its judgment on one more fact—only four of the school board’s nine members hold college degrees. That may seem strange for a large school system, but it tells us nothing about the central question with which the Post started: How much are students in Prince George’s learning? Given reasonable expectations, how well are these schools performing?

So you’ll know, those “other local suburban school systems” are serving more affluent populations. How well is Prince George’s doing with its less affluent population? We see no sign in this editorial that the editors know—or that they’ve even tried to figure that out.

Reading this piece, we thought of the way these same editors have persistently peddled the wonders of Michelle Rhee, former head of the DC schools. For ourselves, we never saw any sign that Rhee had any ideas about how to improve instruction for low-income students. But the editors never seemed to notice. They were willing to base their views on conventional wisdom and external indicators, just as they’re doing here.

This editorial strikes us as lazy work. But when our big newspapers limn low-income schools, the work tends to be like that.

I agree with majneb. Maybe they are just wondering about the sudden decline in the number of students year after year. That would mean less income for the school. And then the superintendents leave Prince George’s to head the Los Angeles and Philadelphia systems. They maybe thinking what would happen to the school and the students after these good superintendents leave? Well we will see about that, maybe the new superintendent will perform well or even better.

Well, we do know this -- the person at the Post who wrote "Despite gains in test scores, student performance continues to lag that of other local, suburban school systems" is illiterate. Should be "lag behind," not "lag."

The Prince George's County school superintendents have been so successful that they are being poached by other much larger and similarly challenged schools systems! This is a symptom of something being very RIGHT, not wrong: "Two highly regarded school superintendents have left in the past four years and now hold the top jobs in the Los Angeles and Philadelphia school systems. Clearly something is wrong."

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